A Russian MiG-31 jet flew within 50 feet of a U.S. surveillance aircraft in Northeast Asia last week, Moscow’s latest aerial saber-rattling against American ships and planes, according to defense officials.

“On April 21, a U.S. Navy P-8 Maritime Patrol reconnaissance aircraft flying a routine mission in international airspace was intercepted by a MiG-31 Russian jet in the vicinity of the Kamchatka Peninsula,” Cmdr. Dave Benham, a spokesman for the Pacific Command, told the Washington Free Beacon.

Benham said the intercept was “characterized as safe and professional.”

“Intercepts between the United States and other militaries occur often and the vast majority are professional,” he noted. “For intercepts that are deemed unprofessional, the U.S. takes appropriate measures through military and diplomatic channels.”

A defense official familiar with the MiG-31 intercept said the jet flew within 50 feet of the P-8, a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.

The incident took place near the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a port located on the southeastern end of the peninsula.

Kamchatka is Russia’s main military hub in the Pacific and the focus of a buildup of Russian military forces that Moscow has said is intended to match the U.S. military rebalance to Asia.

Several military bases are located there, along with a major naval base. The peninsula is also the main impact range for Russian missile flight tests launched from the central part of the country.

The latest aerial incident involving a Russian jet followed two dangerous encounters over the Baltic Sea last week.

A Russian Su-27 flew within 50 feet of an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft on April 14 and executed a barrel roll over the surveillance plane in what the Pentagon called an “unsafe and unprofessional manner.”

Two days earlier, two Russian Su-24s buzzed the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook, coming very close to its deck as the warship sailed in the Baltic Sea. The Pentagon protested both incidents.

On Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the recent incidents are an indicator of “tension that has built up in Europe especially over the last couple of years since events in Crimea and Ukraine.”

On the recent buzzing of the Cook, Carter said “it is unprofessional behavior, and whether it is encouraged from the top, whether it was encouraged from higher up or not I can’t say.”

“But we do expect it to be discouraged from higher up from now on,” he added. “These pilots need to get the word, ‘Hey, knock it off. This is unprofessional. This is dangerous. This could lead somewhere.’”

Carter, appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the recent incidents were “dangerous” and could have led to a conflict, noting that “we can’t be accidentally stumbling into something.”

The P-8 flight appears to have been part of an effort to spy on Russia’s deployment of a new missile submarine at Petropavlovsk.

Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the Pacific Command, told a Senate hearing in February that Russia is building up its military in the Pacific, where Moscow’s Far East forces had declined sharply after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

“Russia continues modernizing its military forces, homeporting its newest Dolgurukiy-class ballistic missile submarine in Petropavlovsk, and revitalizing its ability to execute long-range strategic patrols, highlighted by last July’s deployment of Tu-95 Bear bombers near Alaska and California, and last month’s bomber flights around Japan,” Harris told the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 23.

“The 50-foot closest point of approach by Russian Far East MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors to a U.S. Pacific Fleet P-8 reconnaissance flight is an indicator the Russian Navy has likely transferred their first Dolgorukiy-class SSBN to the Pacific Fleet,” Fanell said, using the acronym for ballistic missile submarine.

The arrival of the first Dolgorukiy “places an additional ‘hold at risk’ tasking on the U.S. Pacific Fleet which has also had to account for the introduction of [People’s Republic of China] Navy JIN-class SSBN patrols in 2015,” Fanell said.

The need to monitor new Russian missile submarines adds to the already overloaded requirements for U.S. submarine forces.

“This clearly represents another clear and present danger to U.S. national security,” Fanell said. The “nation needs more ballistic missile and fast attack nuclear submarines, and fast.”

A Su-27 in January flew within 20 feet of an RC-135 over the Black Sea in a dangerous maneuver.

Last October, the Russians used threatening aerial maneuvers against the aircraft carrier USS Reagan in the Sea of Japan. Two Russian Tu-142 bombers made low passes near the aircraft carrier near the Korean peninsula.

Earlier, on July 4, 2015, two Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers flew within 40 miles of the California coast prompting intercepts by U.S. jets.

Moscow also has sent Tu-95 bombers to circumnavigate the Pacific island of Guam on several occasions. The island is a major military hub and central to the U.S. military’s pivot to Asia.

The Russian navy’s Pacific Fleet conducted exercises in the Sea of Japan on April 22, a day after the P-8 was intercepted, according to a Twitter search.

Russian naval forces from Kamchatka also carried out missile and artillery fire exercises in recent days.

The military activities may have been a target of the P-8 surveillance operations.

Any day is a good day when you can speed a Dodge Ram pickup truck down a military runway before launching a rocket-powered ejection seat into the sky.

Royal Canadian Air Force Officer Maj. Lonny Handwork did exactly that in an equipment test Thursday afternoon at the CFB Cold Lake.

"I get the honour of being behind the wheel, so I'm pretty excited about that," Handwork said during a Thursday morning interview on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"It's one of the few advantages of being the project officer for this. I'm kind of the boss, so I pulled rank and I get the place of honour today."

At exactly 1:00 p.m., a high powered pickup — with an ejection seat mounted on its flatbed — hurtled down the runway at more than 140 km/h.

In a matter of seconds, the seat's rocket motors ignited, launching the seat into the air.

"The event is over pretty quickly," Handwork said. "There's an acceleration of the vehicle down the runway and there is a very loud bang."

12-second test could help upgrade existing ejection seats

Of course, the seat's occupant won't be alive; a crash test dummy of sorts will be used in the dramatic feat, and spectators will be viewing from a close, but safe distance.

"The whole event takes about 12 seconds. The dummy goes in the air on the rocket-propelled catapult, about 100 to 130 feet up into the air, depending on the day. And then the parachute system is initiated and he comes down under that," Handwork said.

Pakistan and China jointly launched the manufacturing of the first prototype of JF-17B (dual seat combat fighter aircraft) at an induction ceremony held at the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC), Chengdu, China. The occasion marked yet another milestone in the close co-operation during the JF-17 aircraft development between Pakistan and China, says a press release.

Air Marshal Muhammad Iqbal, Chief Project Director JF-17, Project Management Office, Pakistan Air Force, was the chief guest at the occasion. The other participants on the occasion were President CAC, Vice President CATIC, Vice President CADI, senior representative AVIC, related Chinese personnel and PAF officials.

Speaking on the occasion, Air Marshal Muhammad Iqbal highlighted that dual seat aircraft is of great value for the Pakistan Air Force in enhancing not only training value but also the operational capability. The induction of JF-17B aircraft would also improve its market prospects in future. He also thanked the Chinese leadership for their continuous support in the design, development and manufacturing phases of the JF-17 development project.

The Chinese leadership, while addressing on the occasion, paid tributes to the higher authorities of Pakistan Air Force for operationalising the aircraft and expressed their resolve to continue support for development work of the JF-17 project. The JF-17B dual seat aircraft is likely to make its maiden flight by the end of this year. The aircraft would be formally inducted in the PAF by April, 2017.

North Korea fired a mid-range "Musudan" missile but it "seems to have failed," a South Korean Defense Ministry official says.

The missile was fired around 6:10 a.m. local time on Thursday (5.40 p.m. Wednesday ET).

The military cannot confirm exactly when the missile exploded, but that it "crashed shortly after it was launched," the official said.
The official, who was unnamed, added that further details were unavailable but that the military is in the process of investigating. It is the second ground-based Musudan launch that has failed in the last two weeks.

A Bulgarian city has pre-empted any potential action by the national government and instituted a French-style ‘burqa ban’, forbidding the traditional Muslim garment. Pazardzhik, population 70,000 was founded in the 15th century and was a regional administration centre during the Ottoman empire.

The move is seen by Austrian paper Kronen Zeitung as a pre-emptive move in a nation on the front line of the migrant crisis and where one tenth of citizens are ethnic Turks.